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On the album Fireball by Deep Purple, there's a song called "The Mule", which opens with the following lines:

No one sees the things you do
Because I stand in front of you
But you drive me all the time
You put the evil in my mind

In Asimov's Foundation series, there's a character called The Mule, who manipulates others using his psychic powers, remaining out of sight himself.

Is the song based on this character, or are the similarities just coincidence?

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  • FYI: That YouTube video is showing as unavailable for me. (That's actually why I changed it to a different one yesterday; it appeared to be dead.) Maybe it's a region thing? Commented May 13, 2024 at 17:16
  • @Buzz since the one you changed it to didn't work for me, I changed it to one from the official channel. I'm surprised it wouldn't work. Commented May 13, 2024 at 17:23

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From the official Ian Gillan website

Hello Tamas,

...

Yes, The Mule was inspired by Asimov. It's been a while but I'm sure you've made the right connection...Asimov was required reading in the 60's.

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    I think The Foundation Trilogy is required reading NOW. Simply tremendous. Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 1:20
  • @TonyEnnis There are other trilogies worth while reading like the Sprawl trilogy by William Gibson, too. Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 16:27

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